“Where’s my Neo-Volkite pistol, Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2?” was my perhaps slightly ungrateful reaction upon booting the action game up after the previous patch. “I didn’t even know what a Neo-Volkite pistol was until five minutes ago, but now this whole game is trash until I get one!.” As promised in the roadmap, the last big update added a whole new Operations map, complete with a gargantuan new pseudo-boss in the form of a hierophant bio-titan. It did not, however, give me my beloved pistol. It’s fine. It’s in now, along with a few, less Neo-Volkite updates to other weapons.
After the demise of AlphaDream, it seemed like a new entry in the Mario & Luigi saga became nothing more than a mere pipe dream. Thankfully, however, a new collaboration between Nintendo and Acquire has resulted in Mario & Luigi: Brothership, a game that stands as not only the first brand-new entry in the franchise in nearly a decade, but also the first proper home console release.
We rather enjoyed it, too. In our 9/10 review, we said it was “easily the best Mario & Luigi RPG yet” with strong combat mechanics, impressive world-building, and clever puzzle design. Here’s the thing with opinions, though… They often differ, and Brothership in particular has proven to be somewhat divisive with a few outlets. Heck, many fans have even taken to social media to bemoan the tweaks applied to the game’s battle system.
Sea of Stars: Dawn of Equinox: A Yearlong Journey in Refinement
Thierry Boulanger, Creative Director, Sabotage Studio
Summary
Dawn of Equinox introduces local co-op for up to three players, new combat mechanics, and numerous quality-of-life improvements.
This update reflects nearly a year of post-launch development, driven by player feedback and the studio’s desire to further enhance the creative impulse that inspired the game’s creation.
The Sea of Stars: Dawn of Equinox free content update is available today for Xbox and Windows PC. Sea of Starsis also currently available with Xbox Game Pass and PC Game Pass.
We’re delighted to talk about our journey since launching Sea of Stars and share more about how we chose to work full time for the better part of a year on a major free update called Dawn of Equinox. Today, I’d like to share more about Sabotage’s business realities and studio life, along with a summary of the update’s new mechanics, namely the addition of a co-op mode.
Given the means
Like many other projects, Sea of Stars started with an impulse — an idea that we all gathered around as a team, something we got excited over, and agreed was a worthwhile creative pursuit. A unique flavor of a feeling, which, given proper treatment in the form of a video game, should compel players to participate in this impulse, experiencing and expressing in their own way what we found unique and worthwhile about Sea of Stars.
Like any other career, game development comes with curve balls and decisions. Short of a magic wand to make everything happen instantly, we become intimate with the notion that production is a team’s one shot at capturing that initial impulse, and that some things inevitably won’t go down as planned. And so, like any other form of art, there is an angle where a game is never finished, but rather surrendered.
After four years of production, we were fortunate enough to feel genuinely happy and content with what we had managed to capture, and within the first hours of its release, it became clear that the reception to Sea of Stars would far exceed our predictions. While the joy and gratefulness we felt can never be overstated, we also gathered around a sense of responsibility in response to this critical mass of players giving us the means to support ourselves.
Putting together this newfound freedom along with hindsight, player feedback, and the countless little tweaks and things we would have so loved to add to the game, we scoped out a major free update, giving our fans an entire year of full time work from the team to refine Sea of Stars into something that resonates even more strongly with the aforementioned impulse, which we now knew a lot of people did (and cared to) engage with.
Wanting to leave no stones unturned, we filed each item under three pillars: polishing, combat 2.0, and couch co-op.
Polishing, Combat 2.0, and Couch co-op
The list goes on here, but the gist of it is that we revisited all areas of the game where we had to make some sacrifices or hard decisions on the road to the game’s initial launch. Setting aside the countless bug fixing and micro adjustments, the bulk of the work was simply to fully realize what was originally envisioned.
You’ll find things like a completely new cinematic cutscene to support a major story beat, a revamped first hour flow in which we’re finally able to do away with the flashback structure by implementing combat animation sets for the kid versions of our heroes, allowing us to go into the intro right away without sacrificing action. There are also a bunch of new Relics, including one for speedrunning, and difficulty presets for those looking for more (or less) grit to combat.
We also updated combat to make it what was originally planned. This one wasn’t for lack of time or conflicting priorities; we simply ended up opting for a lighter and more simple experience. Hindsight and player feedback are the MVPs here; there was indeed an appetite for combat to be deeper and more involved. The first main addition here is “Sticky Combo Points”, which now remain after battle, offering varied ways of opening in combat, as well as maintaining a more abundant resource pool for playing around with the 40+ unique skills and spells at the party’s disposal.
Another notable addition is the concept of “Mystery Locks”. Simply put, any new enemy casting a spell will display Mystery Locks instead of specific damage types directly, creating this gameplay loop around trying different moves to see what breaks each new spell, along with a new “Reveal” function added to some of the characters’ skills. Revealing locks permanently maps them on a per-enemy/per-spell basis, something which playtests quickly validated in terms of adjusting difficulty without relying solely on damage done/received, as well as ensuring more of the bosses special moves get to fly.
Regarding three player couch co-op, we followed a simple rule: player One isn’t special, everyone can do everything. While it was by far the most challenging to implement given the thousands of use-cases to manually implement or fix, this one simply speaks for itself with controllers in hand.
Looking ahead
We couldn’t be happier with the Dawn of Equinox update. Now it’s time to fully shift focus on the upcoming free DLC Throes of the Watchmaker, which is on track to be released in the Spring of 2025.
In the meantime, we hope that you enjoyed this behind the scenes look into what Sabotage has been up to, and we thank you all once again for the overwhelming support. Whether you’ll be playing for the first time, or going for another run, we hope you will enjoy Sea of Stars in its full expression.
Promising the Sabotage touch in every system, Sea of Stars aims to modernize the classic RPG in terms of turn-based combat, storytelling, exploration and interactions with the environment, while still offering a hearty slice of nostalgia and good old, simple fun.
Hey everyone, Thierry here speaking for Sabotage. Our friends at PlayStation extended an invitation to share more about everything that has happened since the launch of Sea of Stars, and how that led our team to work full-time for the better part of a year on a major free update called Dawn of Equinox.
So let’s dive into a summary of what’s included, namely general updates, combat 2.0, and couch co-op.
Updates
Along with countless bug fixes and micro adjustments, we added a bonus pre-rendered cinematic cutscene and finally got to revamp the game’s first hour by adding combat animations for the kid versions of our heroes. This allowed us to ditch the flashback structure by having action directly in the intro, something we sadly had to give up on during production.
We also added difficulty presets, a bunch of new Relics to customize the experience, and even a comprehensive Speedrun Mode designed with the help of our community. There’s some new music, character portraits, and animations—the list goes on.
Combat 2.0
The update brings two key changes to the combat system: Sticky Combo Points and Mystery Locks. Along with a comprehensive balancing pass, of course.
Sticky Combo Points: The gist of it here is that Combo Points now remain after battle, giving combo moves a lot more use overall, whether to open more aggressively on a regular fight, or providing more options to deal damage of the different types when dealing with locks.
This one mainly addresses the feeling of there not being a enough variety of moves in the game. The vision was always to give each character a small kit (MOBA-style), where each move has situational utility, rather than a big list where players pigeonhole themselves into only using their couple of favorites. All good intentions, but while the game boasts over 40 unique and custom-animated moves total, the scarcity of Combo Points meant players seldom engaged with most of them, reducing the perceived scope of combat to feeling like only having three skills per character.
Mystery Locks: This is another one that should always have been there. In short, Mystery Locks bring a new gameplay loop around revealing how to break enemies’ spells whenever they are first encountered. Instead of displaying the damage types required for each lock, they are hidden, requiring the player to try different attacks to see what will break each lock. Note that this is on a per enemy type, per spell basis, meaning that progression toward revealing Mystery Locks is saved in real-time.
The main effect on the experience here is that there will be more enemy spells flying overall, bringing a small uptick in difficulty by relying on the occurrence of more gnarly enemy moves rather than relying solely on the intricate balance between damage done and damage received. This change also adds a “Reveal” function to some of the character skills and combos, adding more layers of strategy based on whether it’s time to map a new enemy’s spells, or to go all out with damage. Combined with Sticky Combo Points and difficulty presets, Mystery Locks gives us the definitive edition of the combat system for Sea of Stars.
Couch co-op (or online using Share Play)
We knew this one would be challenging given the hundreds of cutscenes, interactive objects, camera work, puzzles, menus, NPC interactions, and countless other things that would simply break in thousands of ways if more than one player had full control over the game’s world.
But the co-op dream was very much alive within the team, so we went for it, manually implementing every single edgecase one at a time until we had a full-on three-player mode. You can even use PS5’s Share Play feature to play online co-op with a friend (PlayStation Plus required, here’s how to use it).
In combat: Combat initiates when any player touches an enemy or projectile. In this mode, it doesn’t matter who controls which character in the overworld; players take turns at random picking the next action from the character of their choice.
Whenever an action occurs, all players can chime in to perform Team Blocks and Team Hits for even more bonus effects. For example, whenever all three players time a block properly, the damage is always zero.
Out in the world: We aimed for maximum freedom outside combat. All three players can run, swim, climb, shop, change equipment, talk to NPCs, trigger cutscenes, initiate combat, etc. Anything that a solo player could do, we wanted to make available for all. There’s even 1v1 Wheels now.
Along with a friendly bubble to bring any stray players back into the adventure, a high-five mechanic brings a fun little way to interact with one another while gaining a short speed boost in the process. Oh, we also made the animation sets required for fishing to be available for all characters.
Looking ahead
With the Dawn of Equinox update in the rear view, the team is now focused on the upcoming free DLC Throes of the Watchmaker, which is on track to be released in the Spring of 2025.
We hope you enjoyed this behind-the-scenes look into what’s been going on at Sabotage over the past year. Thank you all once again for the overwhelming support. Whether you’ll be playing for the first time or going for another run, we hope you will enjoy Sea of Stars in its full expression.
Sea of Stars: Dawn of Equinox content update is now available on PS4 and PS5. Safe travels!
Rockstar issued a surprise update for GTA Trilogy Definitive Edition today, November 12 — nearly two years since the last one.
GTA Trilogy Definitive Edition, a 2021 compilation of 2001’s Grand Theft Auto 3, 2002’s Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, and 2004’s Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, was heavily criticized upon launch on PC and console. IGN’s GTA Trilogy Definitive Edition review returned a 5/10. We said: “GTA Trilogy Definitive Edition is defective, disappointing, and surprisingly disrespectful to three classic games and their many legions of fans.”
In contrast, the mobile versions of Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy – The Definitive Edition, released in December last year, met with critical acclaim. Players praised the ports for fixing several issues found on the console and PC versions, including lighting, shadows, reflections, and draw distance. A Rockstar Games blog post published at the time mentioned that these ports include a new classic lighting mode “that restores the look and feel of the sky in the original games.”
Now, finally, this classic lighting option is in Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy – The Definitive Edition on PC and console. Early reports indicate sweeping visual improvements across the board that are already going down well with fans.
The #GTA Definitive Editions just got an update which added the classic lighting option.
Not gonna lie, it actually looks nice on a screen bigger than a phone.
I’ll test now to see if the same problems still exist with it though like they did on mobile a year ago… pic.twitter.com/Qv5J68hYos
Reports also indicate Grove Street Games, original developer of Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy – The Definitive Edition, is no longer mentioned in-game. The mobile versions were developed by Video Games Deluxe, the Australian studio behind L.A. Noire VR Case Files.
Looks like mentions of Grove Street Games and their logos have been removed from the splash screen and main menu of the #GTA Definitive Editions as well. pic.twitter.com/ZmXpccyiyS
If you are diving in to GTA 3, GTA Vice City, or GTA San Andreas in the GTA Trilogy, here’s a cheat code refresher for each: GTA San Andreas Cheats, GTA Vice CIty Cheats, and GTA3 Cheats — and how to enter cheats on every platform, including mobile.
Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
After nearly a year of public beta honing, the Nvidia App – Team Green’s new one-stop shop for desktop GPU management – is out in full. Not alongside the upcoming RTX 50 series, as rumoured, but right-now-today-this-minute. I’ve been testing out the launch version and while it’s not without some dud features, it does agreeably achieve its stated goal of combining the functions within Nvidia Control Panel and GeForce Experience. And if installing it means never having to use the latter again, well, that’s 149MB well spent.
One Legend of Zelda cosplayer struggling to unsheathe Link’s sword has received advice from an unlikely source: Smash Bros. creator Masahiro Sakurai.
Cosplayer Sakigake posted some sleek images of their Breath of the Wild Link outfit on X/Twitter before showing the impracticalities of pulling a sword from a scabbard on one’s back. “It was impossible,” they said. “I will practice.” As spotted by Automaton, however, Sakurai appeared to save the day, revealing how he and his team at Nintendo fixed this issue in the Super Smash Bros. games.
“In Smash Bros. Ultimate, Link pulls the scabbard down when sheathing his sword,” Sakurai said. “That alone didn’t quite reach the mark, but I think that’s as far as we could go with our ingenuity and still replicate the action and equipment from the original.”
Sakigake and Sakurai continued their wholesome interaction, with the cosplayer saying they’d use Super Smash Bros. as a reference going forward. Sakurai responded again too, complimenting Sakigake’s Link cosplay. Check out how Breath of the Wild Link gets on in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate in the video below.
Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 has a new update (patch 4.5) out now across all platforms, adding the hotly anticipated Neo-Volkite pistol to the game.
Saber Interactive’s explosive third-person melee / shooter set in Games Workshop’s grimdark sci-fi universe set records for a Warhammer video game upon its release in September, and has sold an impressive 4.5 million copies so far. Saber has continued to update it since, with today’s patch notes revealing yet more balance changes ahead of a larger update set to add Dark Angels cosmetics.
Let’s start with the Neo-Volkite pistol, which is a powerful thermal ray weapon that shoots lethal beams that burns enemies to ash. It’s available now for the Assault, Vanguard, and Bulwark classes, but is limited to Operations mode only. Operations is the three-player co-op focused PvE mode designed to be played long-term after the campaign is completed.
Unlike other weapons, the Neo-Volkite pistol blasts a heat ray onto your enemies, dealing accumulative thermal damage. Focusing on one enemy ramps up the damage until it generates a localized explosion for huge damage to your target and all nearby enemies.
The Neo-Volkite pistol makes its entry in the #SpaceMarine2 armoury
In Operations, blast heat rays onto your enemies, inflict accumulative damage and blow up those xenos! pic.twitter.com/HmkZEjPmBi
Publisher Focus Entertainment said it’s limiting the Neo-Volkite pistol to Operations mode for now “as we continue to experiment with balancing in PvP.” It will be added to Eternal War mode in Space Marine 2’s next major update alongside a new Operations map, a new enemy, and the Dark Angels cosmetics. Until then though, you’ll be able to try it out against your friends in the Battle Barge’s Sparring Arena.
Moving on, there are a number of balance changes for Operations mode only, including buffs to the Plasma Incinerator, Bolt Sniper Rifle, Occulus Bolt Carbine, Bolt Carbine SMG, and the Auto Bolt Rifle. There are general fixes and tech improvements, too.
Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 Update 4.5 patch notes:
BALANCING TWEAKS
Weapons (Operations mode only)
PLASMA INCINERATOR
👉 Slightly reduced amount of heat generated by normal and charged shots for versions:
– Master-Crafted – Alpha
– Salvation of Bakka – Alpha
– Gathalamor Crusade – Alpha
👉 Fixed a bug that would cause several versions not producing heat at all.
BOLT SNIPER RIFLE
👉 Fire rate increased from 50 to 60 rounds per minute.
👉 Headshot bonus increased from x2 to x2.5.
OCCULUS BOLT CARABINE
👉 Scope added
👉 Headshot bonus increased from x1 to x1.33
BOLT CARABINE (SMG)
👉 Adjusted damage falloff curve: Base damage increased by 50% for the first 10 meters, after that, the damage drops to the original pre-patch value.
AUTO BOLT RIFLE
👉 Max ammo increased by 1 magazine for each version.
GENERAL FIXES
– Fixed a bug causing unlocked DLC cosmetic items to get locked again after a restart.
– Fixed a bug causing the Sniper perk “Targeted Shot” to not work after swapping weapons.
– Fixed a bug causing the Sniper invisibility not getting removed after a shot in rare cases.
– Fixed a bug preventing players from muting the others in PvP.
– Fixed several perks not triggering correctly from enemy kills.
– Fixed a bug that prevented certain weapon perks from triggering correctly when reaching a specific HP threshold.
TECH IMPROVEMENTS
– Crash fixes and general stability improvements.
– Fixed server disconnects with unstable user connection.
– General connectivity improvements.
Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
LightSpeed Studios, the team behind PUBG Mobile and survival RPG Undawn, has launched a new game development studio in Japan helmed by none other than Capcom legend Hideaki Itsuno (thanks, GamesIndustry.biz).
In The Valley of Gods, the hotly anticipated follow-up to Firewatch from developer Campo Santo, was put on hold after Valve acquired the company back in 2018. Now, years later, it remains on hold, but one Valve developer has given fans a glimpse at what might have been.
Announced during the 2017 Game Awards, In The Valley of Gods is set in Egypt during the late 1920s. It stars Rashida and Zora, a pair of documentary filmmakers who accidentally made it big with a hit movie but have since seen their careers go off a cliff. They reunite years later after receiving information about the lost Tomb of Nefertiti, with a goal of reigniting their careers by documenting their trip to Egypt.
Valve visual effects developer Matt Wilde took to Bluesky to publish a six second water test created by Camp Santo before the studio’s move to Valve. It shows the player character bobbing in impressively realistic water while looking out from inside a cave at the other protagonist from a first-person perspective. “I do often tend to work on liquidy things,” Wilde said.
Matthew Wilde, the Valve developer behind the water shader for Counter-Strike 2, has shared a rare gameplay footage. It shows the water technology that was tested for In The Valley of Gods before Valve acquired the company Campo Santo. Team shelved the game not so long after… pic.twitter.com/wIs6Im8KYx
That’s a reference to Wilde’s work on Valve’s 2020 virtual reality exclusive Half-Life: Alyx, which caught attention for ultra realistic liquid in glass bottles. More recently, Wilde worked on Counter-Strike 2’s water and effects.
Spent a good chunk of lock-down doing this important work. Boozy liquid shader, now available in the latest update for Half-Life: Alyx pic.twitter.com/Iw9h98pmEg
Wilde’s In The Valley of Gods clip obviously sparks questions about whether Camp Santo / Valve will one day return to the game. “To fans looking forward to In The Valley of Gods, it’s probably clear that the optimistic ‘2019’ at the end of the announcement trailer isn’t going to be accurate,” Campo Santo co-founder Jake Rodkin said when it was announced that In The Valley of Gods had been put on hold.
“In the end, Valve Time makes fools of us all. But yes, developers from the former Campo Santo team have joined other projects at Valve, including Half-Life: Alyx.
“So to answer your question as of today, In The Valley of Gods development is on hold — but it certainly feels like a project people can and may return to. And when that happens, we’ll find an exciting way to let fans know.”
Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
